Jumblebee

Once there was a bug named Jumblebee who lived with his mother. They were very poor, and Jumblebee's mother worked hard, but Jumblebee was so lazy that he never worked at all. He slept in the shade under flowers on hot days, and dozed in front of the warm fire on cold days.

The very next day, Jumblebee worked in a farmer bug's field, picking weeds. At the end of the day, the farmer gave Jumblebee a penny for his pay. But on the walk home, Jumblebee stumbled and dropped the money into a river.

"Oh, Jumblebee," said his mother, "if you had put the penny in your pocket, you wouldn't have dropped it."

"Mother, I'll be sure to do that next time," said Jumblebee. "I promise."

The very next day, Jumblebee worked for a beekeeper who gave him a cup of honey for his day's work. On the way home, Jumblebee put the cup in his pocket. But as he walked, the honey dripped and dribbled out of the cup.

When Jumblebee got home, his mother immediately saw what had happened. "You

sticky, silly bug!" she said. "You could have carried that honey more steadily

Bright and early the following day, Jumblebee went to work for the farmer bug again.

This time the farmer bug paid Jumblebee with a large pat of butter. Before his walk home, Jumblebee placed the butter carefully on his head. But at the end of the long, hot walk, the butter had melted all over Jumblebee's head!

"My buttery boy," said his mother, "you could have kept the butter out of the sun by holding it carefully in your hands."